Jaipur, Dec. 13 -- Over 3,700 school buildings across Rajasthan are still in dilapidated condition despite the government launching a drive to repair crumbling school buildings after seven students were killed on July 25 when a school building collapsed. A recent survey by the Education Department revealed that at least 3,768 school buildings, 83,738 classrooms, and 16,765 toilets are still in "completely dilapidated" condition. "Meanwhile, another 219,902 classrooms and 29,753 toilets are also in partially crumbling condition that need immediate repair. Given the heavy rains this year, there is an urgent need to repair these buildings. Many buildings are also required to be replaced by completely new ones. It's a mammoth job for which the government needs a huge fund," said an officer from the education minister's office. Following a thorough survey after the Jhalawar incident, the state government, on August 22, identified 5,667 school buildings in dilapidated condition, of which maximum are in Banswara, Udaipur and Jhalawar. A copy of the survey, seen by HT, showed that the survey was conducted on 63,058 school buildings across the state since the survey was ordered on July 26 - of which 5,667 school buildings and 86,934 classrooms have been identified as "completely dilapidated". A maximum of 605 crumbling school buildings were found in Banswara during the latest survey followed by 563 in Udaipur, 448 in Jhalawar, 364 in Dungarpur, and 295 in Pratapgarh. In these same districts, 141 other school buildings in Banswara were already declared as dilapidated, 144 in Udaipur, 13 in Jhalawar, 109 in Dungarpur, and 158 in Pratapgarh, showed the report. The officer quoted above said, "Some buildings have already been repaired in the last few months. In view of the situation, the government has also laid out a detailed budget. A total Rs.1624.29 crore has been budgeted for the renovation of all the schools. At least Rs.174 crore has already been allocated to 2,000 schools having "completely dilapidated" buildings, with a deadline of March 2026 to finish work. The government will also set up 104 new schools at Rs.98.91 crore by November 2026. However, many buildings and classrooms are left for which we need more budget." Considering the situation, the education minister Madan Dilawar has appealed to the MLAs to contribute 20% of the fund provided to the MLAs. "Every MLA should contribute 20% (Rs.1 crore) of the local development fund for the development of these schools. This move will be considered as part of the CM's Vidhayak Shiksha Ki Saathi Yojana. It is our responsibility to provide students with a better environment to study," said Dilawar. The minister added, "The government is monitoring both the new building constructions and the renovation work of the crumbling ones. We have set a deadline to finish the renovation work by March 2026, while new building projects are also in the pipeline." "We have identified a shortage of engineers in the department. As we don't have our own cadre, we are sometimes forced to rely on the ones working on deputation in other departments. Many of our engineers were also appointed teachers or lab assistants creating issues in monitoring the maintenance of the school buildings. Our target is to ensure that all these current renovation works are supervised by qualified engineers. We are also specifically speaking to the PwD department and have sought their engineers."...